JP6770015B2 - Field management device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a field management device.

In Patent Document 1, in order to grasp the growth state of crops in a field for each small area, the field is divided into a plurality of small areas, for example, a square area having a side of several meters on the field map, and each small area is described. The farming method for managing the growing situation and the working situation is disclosed in.

JP-A-2017-102924

Generally, in the field, a plurality of elongated rectangular crop growing areas for growing crops are formed in a striped shape. Ridges and streaks can be mentioned as typical examples of crop growing areas. During farm work, the work vehicle carries out farm work while moving along the crop growing area in the field. Therefore, if the field can be divided into a plurality of small areas along the moving direction of the work vehicle and managed, the work direction of the work vehicle and the arrangement direction of the management area match, so that it is easy to manage the cultivation of crops. Become.

An object of the present invention is to provide a field management device capable of dividing a field into small areas and managing the field along the main moving direction of the work vehicle in the field.

One embodiment of the present invention is based on the time-by-time position information of the work vehicle measured while the work vehicle is traveling in the field, and the work vehicle at a position corresponding to each position information. Main movement that determines the main movement direction, which is the main movement direction of the work vehicle, based on the movement direction calculation unit that calculates the movement direction and the movement direction corresponding to all the position information calculated by the movement direction calculation unit. Using the direction determination unit, the first virtual straight line parallel to the main movement direction determined by the main movement direction determination unit, and the second virtual straight line orthogonal to the first virtual straight line, a plurality of regions of the field are used. Provided is a field management device including an information generation unit that is divided into rectangular management areas and generates specific information for specifying each management area.

With this configuration, the field can be divided into small areas and managed along the main movement direction of the work vehicle in the field. As a result, it becomes possible to match the working direction of the work vehicle with the arrangement direction of the management area, so that it becomes easy to manage the cultivation of crops.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the main movement direction determining unit calculates a probability density function of the distribution of these movement directions based on the movement directions corresponding to all the position information, and obtains the probability density function. Is configured to determine the main movement direction based on.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of elongated rectangular crop growing regions for growing crops are formed in a stripe shape in the field, and the main movement direction is the direction in which the crop growing region extends. is there.
In this configuration, the field can be divided into small areas and managed along the extending direction of the crop growing area.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a configuration of a field management system to which the field management device according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a side view mainly showing a tractor. FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining how a tractor performs sugarcane planting work in a field. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the tractor and the management server. FIG. 6A is a flowchart showing a part of the procedure of the field division processing executed by the field division processing unit. FIG. 6B is a flowchart showing a part of the procedure of the field division processing executed by the field division processing unit. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the process of step S1 of FIG. 6A. FIG. 8 is a graph showing an example of the probability density function calculated in step S3 of FIG. 6A. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram for explaining the process of step S6 of FIG. 6A. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining the process of step S8 of FIG. 6B. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram for explaining the process of step S9 of FIG. 6B.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a configuration of a field management system to which the field management device according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied.
The field management system 1 includes a communication terminal 2 mounted on a tractor 11 as a work vehicle and a management server 3 as a field management device. A working machine 13 is attached to the tractor 11. The communication terminal 2 can communicate with the management server 3 via the communication network 5.

The communication terminal 2 has a function of positioning the position of the tractor 11 by using the positioning satellite 6. The communication terminal 2 transmits the position information and the movable information to the management server 3. The management server 3 is provided in the management center 4. The management server 3 receives the position information and the movable information transmitted from the communication terminal 2. The management server 3 stores the received position information and movable information in the storage unit.

FIG. 2 is a side view mainly showing the tractor 11. FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG.
The tractor 11 includes a traveling machine body 12 as a vehicle body portion that travels in the field. Various working machines such as a planting machine, a cultivator, a plow, a fertilizer applicator, a mower, and a sowing machine can be selected and mounted on the traveling machine body 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, the traveling machine body 12 of the tractor 11 has a front portion supported by a pair of left and right front wheels 17, and a rear portion supported by a pair of left and right rear wheels 18.

A bonnet 19 is arranged at the front portion of the traveling machine body 12. In the present embodiment, the engine 20, the fuel tank (not shown), and the like, which are the drive sources of the tractor 11, are housed in the bonnet 19. The engine 20 can be configured by, for example, a diesel engine, but is not limited to this, and may be configured by, for example, a gasoline engine. Further, as a drive source, an electric motor may be adopted instead of or in addition to the engine 20.

Behind the bonnet 19, a cabin 21 for the user to board is arranged. Inside the cabin 21, a steering wheel 22 for maneuvering by the user, a seat 23 on which the user can sit, a communication terminal 2, various operating devices for performing various operations, and the like are arranged. The communication terminal 2 is detachably attached to a terminal support portion 16 fixed to the lower surface of the roof 15 of the cabin 21. The tractor 11 is not limited to the one with the cabin 21, and may have a configuration without the cabin 21.

As shown in FIG. 2, a chassis 30 of the tractor 11 is provided in the lower part of the traveling machine body 12. The chassis 30 is composed of an airframe frame 31, a transmission 32, a front axle 33, a rear axle 34, and the like.
The airframe frame 31 is a support portion at the front portion of the tractor 11, and supports the engine 20 directly or via a vibration isolator or the like. The transmission 32 changes the power from the engine 20 and transmits it to the front axle 33 and the rear axle 34. The front axle 33 transmits the power input from the transmission 32 to the front wheels 17. The rear axle 34 transmits the power input from the transmission 32 to the rear wheels 18.

In this embodiment, the traveling machine body 12 is equipped with a sugar cane planting machine for planting sugar cane as a working machine 13. Since the configuration of the sugar cane planting machine is known, the specific configuration of the sugar cane planting machine is not shown for convenience of explanation. As the sugar cane planting machine, for example, a sugar cane planting machine (sugar cane transplanting machine) disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-192327 can be used. The sugar cane planting machine disclosed in JP-A-2017-192327 has a groove-growing part for forming a groove in a field, a cutting part for cutting sugarcane seedlings to create seed millet, and dropping seed millet into the groove. It is equipped with a guide part to cover the seed millet, a soil-covering part to cover the seed millet, and a seat for the worker to put sugar cane seedlings into the cutting part. A part of the driving force of the engine 20 of the tractor 11 is transmitted to the sugar cane planting machine via a PTO shaft (not shown).

FIG. 4 is a schematic view for explaining how the tractor 11 performs sugar cane planting work in the field. The tractor 11 may be driven by manual operation or by automatic operation.
In the field F, a plurality of elongated rectangular crop growing regions L for growing crops are formed in a striped shape. Of both ends of the crop growing area L, the lower end of FIG. 4 is referred to as the front end, and the upper end of FIG. 4 is referred to as the back end.

The tractor 11 performs sugarcane planting work while moving along the crop growing area L in a posture in which the left and right wheels 17 on the front side and the left and right wheels 18 on the rear side each sandwich the crop growing area L. The tractor 11 travels from the front side to the back end with respect to the leftmost crop growing area L, for example. Then, when the tractor 11 reaches the inner end of the crop growing area L, the tractor 11 turns to the right in the traveling direction and moves to the inner end of the crop growing area L adjacent to the right.

Next, the tractor 11 travels in the crop growing area L from the back end toward the front side. Then, when the tractor 11 reaches the front end of the crop growing area L, the tractor 11 turns to the left in the traveling direction and moves to the front end of the crop growing area L adjacent to the right. Such a traveling operation is repeatedly performed. Therefore, the movement path of the tractor 11 is generally a zigzag shape as shown by a broken line in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the tractor 11 and the management server 3.
The tractor 11 includes a tractor control device 10 and a communication terminal 2 mounted on the tractor 11. The tractor control device 10 controls the operation of the traveling machine body 12 (movements such as forward movement, reverse movement, stop, turning, etc.) and the movement of the work machine 13. The tractor control device 10 is electrically connected to a plurality of controllers (not shown) for controlling each part of the tractor 11. The plurality of controllers control an engine controller that controls the rotation speed of the engine 20, a vehicle speed controller that controls the vehicle speed of the tractor 11, a steering controller that controls the steering angle of the front wheels 17 of the tractor 11, and the rotation of the PTO axis. Includes PTO axis controller and the like.

The tractor control device 10 gives operation information to the communication terminal 2 at predetermined time intervals. The operation information includes the engine speed, the exhaust temperature, the operating state of the accelerator, the operating state of the brake, and the like.
The communication terminal 2 includes a control unit 40. A position detection unit 51, a communication unit 52, an operation display unit 53, an operation unit 54, a storage unit 55, and the like are connected to the control unit 40. The position detection unit 51 calculates the position information of the tractor 11 (communication terminal 2) based on the satellite positioning system. The satellite positioning system is, for example, GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). Specifically, the position detection unit 51 receives satellite signals from a plurality of positioning satellites 6 (see FIG. 1) and detects the position information of the tractor 11. The position information includes, for example, latitude, longitude and altitude information, and time information from which the position information was acquired. In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the position information is composed of latitude information, longitude information, and time information. The storage unit 55 is provided with a position information storage unit 56, an operation information storage unit 57, and the like.

The communication unit 52 is a communication interface for the control unit 40 to communicate with the management server 3 via the communication network 5 (see FIG. 1). The operation display unit 53 includes, for example, a touch panel display. The operation unit 54 includes, for example, one or a plurality of operation buttons. The storage unit 55 is composed of a storage device such as a non-volatile memory.
The control unit 40 includes a microcomputer provided with a CPU and a memory (ROM, RAM, etc.) 41. The control unit 40 includes an information acquisition processing unit 42. The information acquisition processing unit 42 acquires the position information calculated by the position detection unit 51 and stores it in the position information storage unit 56. Then, the information acquisition processing unit 42 transmits the position information stored in the position information storage unit 56 to the management server 3 in real time or at a predetermined timing.

Further, the information acquisition processing unit 42 acquires the operation information given from the tractor control device 10 and stores it in the operation information storage unit 57. Then, the information acquisition processing unit 42 transmits the operation information stored in the operation information storage unit 57 to the management server 3 in real time or at a predetermined timing.
The management server 3 includes a control unit 60. A communication unit 71, an operation display unit 72, an operation unit 73, a storage unit 74, and the like are connected to the control unit 60. The communication unit 71 is a communication interface for the control unit 60 to communicate with the communication terminal 2 via the communication network 5. The operation display unit 72 includes, for example, a touch panel display. The operation unit 73 includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. The storage unit 74 is composed of a storage device such as a hard disk and a non-volatile memory.

The storage unit 74 is provided with a position information storage unit 75, an operation information storage unit 76, a field information storage unit 77, and the like. The position information storage unit 75 stores the position information received from the communication terminal 2. The operation information storage unit 76 stores the operation information received from the communication terminal 2. Information about the field (field information) is stored in the field information storage unit 77.
The control unit 60 includes a microcomputer provided with a CPU and a memory (ROM, RAM, etc.) 61. The control unit 60 includes an information storage processing unit 62 and a field division processing unit 63. When the information storage processing unit 62 receives the position information from the communication terminal 2, the information storage processing unit 62 stores the received position information in the position information storage unit 75. Further, when the information storage processing unit 62 receives the operation information from the communication terminal 2, the information storage processing unit 62 stores the received operation information in the operation information storage unit 76.

The field division processing unit 63 performs a field division process for dividing the field F in which the sugarcane planting work has been performed into a plurality of management areas. In the following, the field F for which the field division treatment is to be performed is referred to as a “field F to be treated”, and is detected by the position detection unit 51 while the sugarcane planting work is being performed on the field F to be treated. The position information of the tractor 11 for each time is referred to as "processing target data". It is assumed that the processing target data is stored in the position information storage unit 75.

The field division processing unit 63 includes a movement direction calculation unit 81, a main movement direction determination unit 82, and an information generation unit 83.
The movement direction calculation unit 81 calculates the movement direction of the tractor 11 at a position corresponding to each position information in the processing target data.
The main movement direction determination unit 82 determines the main movement direction, which is the main movement direction of the tractor 11, based on the movement directions corresponding to all the position information calculated by the movement direction calculation unit.

The information generation unit 83 uses a first virtual straight line parallel to the main movement direction determined by the main movement direction determination unit and a second virtual straight line orthogonal to the first virtual straight line to create a region of the field F to be processed. It is divided into a plurality of rectangular management areas, and specific information for specifying each management area is generated.
Hereinafter, the details of the operations of the movement direction calculation unit 81, the main movement direction determination unit 82, and the information generation unit 83 will be described in detail.

6A and 6B are flowcharts showing the procedure of the field division processing executed by the field division processing unit 63.
First, the movement direction calculation unit 81 in the field division processing unit 63 inputs each position information (longitude, latitude) of the latitude and longitude coordinate system (geographic coordinate system) included in the processing target data to the first plane coordinate system. It is converted into position information (distance in X direction, distance in Y direction) (step S1).

In the first plane coordinate system, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the predetermined position is the origin O, the straight line passing through the origin O and extending in the east-west direction is the X-axis, and the straight line passing through the origin O and extending in the north-south direction is Y. It is a coordinate system with axes. It is assumed that the positive direction of the Y-axis is north and the positive direction of the X-axis is east.
In FIG. 7, F indicates a field to be treated. In FIG. 7, S schematically represents the movement locus of the tractor 11 during the planting operation. This movement locus is a curve obtained by connecting the position information after the coordinate conversion in step S1 in chronological order. In FIG. 7, the movement locus is simplified and drawn, and the actual movement locus is more complicated than the movement locus shown in FIG. Further, in the example of FIG. 7, for convenience of explanation, the shape of the field F to be treated is rectangular, but the shape of the field F to be treated may be a shape other than a rectangle.

Next, the moving direction calculation unit 81 calculates the moving direction of the tractor 11 at the position corresponding to each position information after the coordinate conversion (step S2).
The moving direction of the tractor 11 at a position corresponding to a certain position information is calculated as follows, for example. In the first plane coordinate system, a certain position information is set as the attention position information, the coordinates of the position information acquired one time before the attention position information are set as (x1, y1), and the coordinates of the attention position information are set. Assuming (x2, y2), the moving direction (moving direction angle) θ of the position corresponding to the attention position information is calculated based on the following equation (1).

θ = tan ^-1 {(y2-y1} / (x2-x1)) ... (1)
The moving direction angle θ takes a value in the range of −90 degrees to +90 degrees.
Next, the main movement direction determination unit 82 in the field division processing unit 63 calculates the probability density function of the distribution of these movement directions based on the movement directions corresponding to all the position information (step S3).

Specifically, the main movement direction determination unit 82 calculates the probability density function (kernel density function) of the distribution in the movement direction by kernel density estimation. FIG. 8 is a graph showing an example of the probability density function calculated in step S3. This graph is a curve that smoothes the histogram of the distribution in the moving direction. The graph of FIG. 8 does not accurately correspond to the movement locus of FIG. 7.

Next, the main movement direction determination unit 82 detects the peak of the probability density function (step S4). Then, the main moving direction determining unit 82 determines the moving direction θ corresponding to the peak having the highest peak height among the detected peaks as the main moving direction of the tractor 11 (step S5). In the example of FIG. 8, the main movement direction is 50 degrees.
Next, as shown in FIG. 9, the information generation unit 83 in the field division processing unit 63 sets the point corresponding to the predetermined position information as the origin O', passes through the origin O', and is the main moving direction of the tractor 11. A second plane coordinate system is set with a parallel straight line as the first axis and a straight line passing through the origin O'and orthogonal to the first axis as the second axis (step S6).

In the example of FIG. 9, the westernmost point among the positions corresponding to the position information is set as the origin O'of the second plane coordinate system. Further, the first axis is set as the Y'axis and the second axis is set as the X'axis.
Next, the information generation unit 83 converts each position information in the first plane coordinate system into the position information in the second plane coordinate system (step S7).

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the information generation unit 83 sets the minimum value x'min and the maximum value x'max of the X'coordinate value and the minimum value y'min of the Y'coordinate value in the second plane coordinate system. And from the maximum value y'max, a rectangular region E that approximates the field F to be treated is generated (step S8). Specifically, the information generation unit 63C has a point a (x'min, y'min), a point b (x'min, y'max), and a point c (x'max, y'max). A rectangular region E having a point d (x'max, y'min) as an apex is generated as a rectangular region that approximates the field F to be treated.

Next, in the second plane coordinate system, the information generation unit 83 uses a first virtual line parallel to the main movement direction and a second virtual line orthogonal to the first virtual line to form a plurality of rectangular regions S. It is divided into a rectangular management area e (step S9). For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the information generation unit 83 sets a plurality of first virtual lines K1 at predetermined first intervals with respect to the rectangular region S, and sets a plurality of first virtual lines K1 at predetermined second intervals. By setting the two virtual lines K2, a plurality of management areas e partitioned by these virtual lines are set in the rectangular area S.

Next, the information generation unit 83 generates specific information for specifying each management area e, and stores it in the field information storage unit 77 as field information for the field F to be processed (step S10).
Specifically, the information generation unit 83 converts the coordinate values of the four vertices of each management area e in the second plane coordinate system into the coordinate values in the latitude and longitude coordinate system. Then, the information generation unit 63C stores the coordinate values of the latitude and longitude coordinate system of the four vertices of each management area e in the field information storage unit 77 as field information for the field F to be processed.

In the above embodiment, the moving direction calculation unit 81 converts each position information of the latitude and longitude coordinate system included in the processing target data into the position information of the first plane coordinate system (see step S1 of FIG. 6A). ), It is not necessary to convert each position information of the latitude and longitude coordinate system included in the data to be processed into the position information of the first plane coordinate system.
In that case, the process of step S1 is omitted. In that case, in step S2, the moving direction of the tractor 11 at the position corresponding to each position information is calculated as follows. In the latitude and longitude coordinate system, a certain position information is set as the attention position information, the longitude and latitude of the position information acquired one time before the attention position information are set as (λ1, φ1), and the longitude of the attention position information. And when the latitude is (λ2, φ2), the moving direction (moving direction angle) θ of the position corresponding to the attention position information is calculated based on the following equation (2).

θ = tan ^-1 {(φ2-φ1} / (λ2-λ1))… (2)
The processing after step S3 is the same as the processing after step S3 in FIG.
In the above-described embodiment, the field F can be divided into small areas and managed along the main moving direction of the tractor 11 in the field F. As a result, it becomes possible to match the working direction of the tractor 11 with the arrangement direction of the management area, which facilitates cultivation management of crops.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention can also be implemented in other embodiments. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the GNSS independent positioning system is used as the positioning system used in the communication terminal 2, but other than the independent positioning system such as RTK-GNSS (real-time kinematic GNSS). A positioning system may be used.

In the above-described embodiment, the work vehicle is a tractor, but the work vehicle may be a rice transplanter, a combine harvester, a civil engineering / construction work device, a snowplow, a riding type work machine, a walking type work machine, or the like.
In addition, various design changes can be made within the scope of the matters described in the claims.

1 Field management system 2 Communication terminal 3 Management server (field management device)
10 Tractor control device 11 Tractor (work vehicle)
60 Control unit 61 Memory 62 Information storage processing unit 63 Field division processing unit 81 Movement direction calculation unit 82 Main movement direction determination unit 83 Information generation unit

Claims (2)

Based on the time-by-time position information of the work vehicle measured while the work vehicle is traveling in the field, the movement direction calculation for calculating the movement direction of the work vehicle at the position corresponding to each position information. Department and
A main movement direction determination unit that determines the main movement direction, which is the main movement direction of the work vehicle, based on the movement directions corresponding to all the position information calculated by the movement direction calculation unit.
Using the first virtual straight line parallel to the main movement direction determined by the main movement direction determination unit and the second virtual straight line orthogonal to the first virtual straight line, the area of the field is managed in a plurality of rectangular shapes. divided into regions, viewed contains an information generation unit for generating identification information for identifying each of said management area,
The main movement direction determining unit calculates a probability density function of the distribution of these movement directions based on the movement directions corresponding to all the position information, and based on the obtained probability density function, the main movement direction. A field management device that is configured to determine . Said inside field and a plurality of elongated rectangular crop growth region for growing the crop is formed in a stripe shape, a direction in which the main direction of movement extends the said crop growth area, according to claim 1 Field management device.

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